International Polity - Current Affairs for April, 2017

International Polity Current Affairs for April, 2017

Month wise coverage of International Polity Current Affairs helps you improve your general knowledge and prepare for all competitive exams like IBPS, Bank PO, SBI PO, RRB, RBI, LIC, Specialist Officer, Clerk, SSC, UPSC, Railway etc. This section is updated daily with the most important events.

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The US military has moved parts of THAAD, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence System to South Korea on 26th April 2017.

The earlier-than-expected steps to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system was also denounced by North Korea even as South Korea's presidential election are on May 9, 2017.

South Korea's Defence Ministry indicated elements of THAAD were moved to the deployment site, on what had been a golf course, about 250 km south of the capital, Seoul.

The battery was expected to be operational by the end of the year, it said.

The United States and South Korea agreed in 2016 to deploy the THAAD to counter the threat of missile launches by North Korea. They say it is solely aimed at defending against North Korea.

But China says the system's advanced radar can penetrate deep into its territory and undermine its security, while it will do little to deter the North, and is adamant in its opposition.

China is North Korea's sole major ally and is seen as crucial to US-led efforts to rein in North Korea.

The United States began moving the first elements of the system to South Korea in March after the North tested four ballistic missiles.

South Korea has accused China of discriminating against some South Korean companies operating in China because of the deployment.

The United States and North Korea have been stepping up warnings to each other in recent weeks over North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and missiles in defiance of UN resolutions.

North Korea says it needs the weapons to defend itself and has vowed to strike the United States and its Asian allies at the first sign of any attack on it.

The United States is sending the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group to waters off the Korean peninsula, where it will join the USS Michigan, a nuclear submarine that docked in South Korea.

South Korea's navy has said it will hold drills with the U.S. strike group.

Kim Jong-un had supervised the country's “largest-ever” live-fire drill to mark 25th April''s 85th founding anniversary of its military, with more than 300 large-calibre, self-propelled artillery pieces on its east coast.

It has been announced that leaders of the five parties will lead the Rashtriya Janata Party by rotation.

As per the provisions, most of the key constitutional posts have been reserved for only citizens by descent. Madhesi parties object to this criterion as huge numbers of Madhesis have acquired citizenship by birth or naturalization.

This criteria makes them ineligible to hold the office of President, Vice-President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice, Speaker of Parliament, Chairperson of National Assembly etc.

Madhesis want representation in terms of proportion. The Nepali constitution has given equal representation on the basis of “geographical area”.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced sweeping changes to Australia’s citizenship laws, introducing tighter requirements for new applicants.

This is a move that follows the scrapping of the 457 visa schemes for foreign workers.

Under the new reforms, the applicants must be permanent residents for at least four years — three years longer than at present — and must be committed to embrace “Australian values.

Prospective citizens will have to pass a standalone English test that will focus heavily on respect for women and children, with possible questions about child marriage, female genital mutilation and domestic violence.

The test will have questions assessing an applicant’s understanding of and commitment to shared Australian values and responsibilities

British Prime Minister Theresa May has called for an election on June 8, saying Britain's opposition parties risked worsening her negotiating hand in divorce talks with the European Union by opposing her Brexit plan.

PM May will not take part in TV debates ahead of the planned general election. The prime minister indicated she preferred "to get out and about and meet voters".

ITV has become the first broadcaster to confirm a debate ahead of the poll on 8 June. Labour's Jeremy Corbyn accused the PM of dodging a head-to-head showdown.

Mrs May has promised a strong and stable leadership if she wins. MPs voted in favour of 8 June poll by margin of 509.

Brexit Vote: Know More

A referendum–a vote in which everyone (or nearly everyone) of voting age can take part –was held on 23 June, 2016.

It was held decide whether the UK should leave or remain in the European Union.

Leave won by 51.9% to 48.1%.

The referendum turnout was 71.8%, with more than 30 million people voting.

England voted for Brexit, by 53.4% to 46.6%.

Wales also voted for Brexit, with Leave getting 52.5% of the vote and Remain 47.5%.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan narrowly won a historic referendum on April 17, 2017 that will tighten his grip on power.

The knife-edge result left the country bitterly divided and the opposition crying foul.

This referendum creates a presidential system, giving Mr. Erdogan more power than any leader since modern Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and his successor Ismet Inonu.

Turkey which joined NATO in 1952 and for the last half-century has set its sights on joining the European Union is now on the move.

The 'Yes' campaign won 51.4 percent of the vote against 48.6 percent for 'No', in a count based on 99.5 percent of the ballot boxes. Turnout was a high 85 percent.

Supreme Election Board chief Sadi Guven confirmed that the 'Yes' camp had emerged victorious, but the opposition has vowed to challenge the outcome.

The referendum was held under a state of emergency that has seen 47,000 people arrested in an unprecedented crackdown after a failed military ouster against Mr. Erdogan in July 2016.

The 'No' share of the vote climbed as more ballots were counted, after lagging well behind in the early count, but failed to overtake the 'Yes' votes.

Voting patterns showed Turkey deeply divided over the changes, with the 'No' vote victorious in the country's three biggest cities.

The 'Yes' vote held up strongly in Mr. Erdogan's Anatolian heartland but the Aegean and Mediterranean coastal regions and Kurdish-dominated southeast backed the 'No' camp.

European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker and EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini indicated that in view of the closeness of the result, the Turkish authorities need to seek the "broadest possible national consensus" for the changes.

Mr. Erdogan made relations with the EU a key issue in his referendum campaign.

Turkey's two main opposition parties said they would challenge the results over alleged violations.

The pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) said it would challenge two-thirds of the votes.

The opposition had already complained that the referendum was conducted on unfair terms, with 'Yes' posters ubiquitous on the streets and opposition voices squeezed from the media.

The new system would dispense with the office of prime minister and centralise the entire executive bureaucracy under the president, giving Erdogan the direct power to appoint ministers.

It is due to come into force after elections in November 2019. Erdogan, who became president in 2014 after serving as premier from 2003, could then seek two more five-year terms.

Nepal and China will hold the first-ever joint military exercise from April 17 with a special focus on combating terror and disaster management.

The 10-day-long military drill that will last till April 26 is being organised by the two countries as part of their preparedness against terrorism that has posed as a serious security threat globally.

The military exercise named ‘Sagarmatha Friendship-2017’ will also focus on common interests like disaster management.

Sagarmatha is the Nepali name of Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak, that is bordering between Nepal and China.

Neil Gorsuch was sworn in on April 10, 2017 as the US Supreme Court's ninth justice, moving the bench to the right as he filled the seat left vacant by last year's death of conservative icon Antonin Scalia.

Gorsuch was sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts. He will take a second oath later in the day at a public White House ceremony officiated by Justice Anthony Kennedy.

His nomination to a life term marked President Donald Trump's first opportunity to shape for a generation a court that is the ultimate arbiter of many of the most contentious issues in American life.

In Gorsuch, Trump selected a respected federal appeals court judge who is seen as a fervent disciple of Scalia and a brand of conservative jurisprudence that calls for the strict interpretation of the US Constitution.

The Senate voted 54-45 to confirm him, but only after Republican leader Mitch McConnell swept aside longstanding rules to overcome a Democratic filibuster.

The judge's credentials include degrees from Columbia, Harvard Law and Oxford and clerkships with two Supreme Court justices, the late Byron White and Kennedy.

As a Justice Department lawyer from 2005-2006, Gorsuch led all government litigation arising from the US war on terror.

This is including its defence of the extraordinary rendition of Khaled el-Masri, a German-Lebanese citizen who was handed over to the CIA in Macedonia in 2003 and flown to Afghanistan.

Neil Gorsuch: Know More

Born: 29 August 1967, Denver, Colorado, United States

Nationality: American

Education: University College, Oxford, Columbia University, University of Oxford, Harvard University, Harvard Law School

US President Donald Trump has nominated prominent Indian-American law expert Neomi Rao as Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) (regulatory czar).

She will oversee the US President’s plan to eliminate 75% of federal regulations. OIRA is a statutory part of the Office of Management and Budget within the Executive Office of the President.

It reviews regulations from federal agencies and has the power to reject rules that do not fall in line with the President’s goals.

Currently She is a professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University.

Earlier, she had served as Associate Counsel to President George W Bush; counsel for nominations and constitutional law to the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

US President Donald Trump has also nominated Indian-American Vishal Amin as Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator in the Executive Office of the President (IP czar).

He will coordinate US law-enforcement strategy around copyright, patents and trademarks. His appointment needs confirmation of US Senate and will succeed Daniel Marti.

Presently, Amin is a Senior Counsel on House Judiciary Committee.

He also had served in the administration of President George W Bush as Associate Director for Domestic Policy and at the US Department of Commerce, as Special Assistant and Associate Director for Policy in the Office of the Secretary.

These homes are part of a plan approved 2 months ago to grow settlements by more than 5,500 homes.

The United Nations Security Council passed a resolution in December 2016 condemning Israeli settlements constructed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as illegal.

These territories, occupied by the Israeli military since 1967, are located where Palestinians plan to create their future state.

UNSC Resolution 2334 was passed after the US abstained from voting.

UN was the first to protest against the new settlement. While the Obama administration was a fierce critic of the Netanyahu government, a regime change with Trump marks new realities for Israel and Palestine.

Chronology of events

Russia has a project for a nuclear-propelled submarine, which would carry seismological equipment instead of missiles. The vessel would be used to explore the Arctic’s mineral riches. The project of the first-ever nuclear sub for civilian use was revealed by Viktor Litvinenko, head of a project group at the Advanced Research Fund, a state agency with close ties to the military.

The US on April 5 indicated its considering all options to tackle the threat posed by North Korea’s repeated nuclear arms tests, hours after Pyongyang fired another ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan.

Ecuadorean leftist Lenin Moreno has won 2017 Presidential election after a tight contest with his right-wing opponent. Moreno won 51.16% of valid votes versus 48.84% for conservative challenger Guillermo Lasso, with 99.65% of votes counted.

The Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich left the port of Sevastopol in Crimea for the Mediterranean where it will join the country’s naval forces deployed near the Syrian coast. The frigate will be operating as part of the permanent Russian Navy force in the Mediterranean,”

Pakistan’s Field General Court Martial has sentenced to death Indian national and alleged RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) agent Kulbhushan Jadhav (46) who was arrested last year on charges of spying. The death sentence was confirmed by army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa after the Field General Court Martial found him guilty of all the charges.

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, President of Egypt, in April 2017 announced a three-month state of emergency following attacks on two Coptic churches that left at least 44 dead.

China has urged US to resort to peaceful measures for solving rising tensions in Korean peninsula due North Korean nuclear programme.

Nepalese president Bidya Devi Bhandari arrives Monday for a five-day visit to India, seen as a key marker of warmer ties between the two countries after months of tensions between the two neighbours over Nepal’s new constitution.

Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been disqualified from running in next month’s presidential elections. His name was left out of the final list of approved candidates that was announced on 20 April 2017.

India has made a quarter-million-dollar contribution to the UN programme for helping countries to hold elections and develop their electoral systems.

The first Nepal-China joint military exercise ‘Sagarmatha Friendship-2017’ concluded in Kathmandu. On the last day of exercise participants from Nepal and China demonstrated Hostage Rescue, Bus Break In, Sniper Firing and House Clearing Drill.

Poland has assured its support for India’s bid for membership in the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and a permanent seat in the expanded UN Security Council.

The leaders of Indonesia and the Philippines have pledged to boost bilateral ties and launch maritime patrols of their sea border to prevent kidnappings and a new direct sea link that will halve shipping time and boost trade between two southern Philippine cities and Indonesia’s Bitung city.

Nepal is set to sign an agreement with China to be part of the ‘One Belt One Road Conference’, a pet initiative of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Nepal is sending a high-level delegation to China to attend the ‘One Belt One Road Conference’ (OBOR) which will be held on May 14.